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When Joni Mitchell sang "They paved paradise, put up a parking lot," she articulated what was already conventional wisdom: Industry is the antithesis of nature. But Infrastructure: A Field Guide to the Industrial Landscape demonstrates that our artificial ecosystem can radiate similar beauty.

When seen through the discriminating lens of author and photographer Brian Hayes, man-made objects appear as exquisite and natural as organic ones. Radar domes echo the beauty of a fly's eyes, a crop-irrigation rig takes on the twiggy grace of a praying mantis, and the miles of telephone towers and wires along US highways fuse into the western horizon.

Indeed, all of the images in Infrastructure suggest that, if you appreciate the utility of industrial objects, even water, aviation, and electrical towers can seem as majestic as, say, giant sequoias. Hayes proves that the ugliest edifices are pretty on the inside, as long as they have a purpose. "This book tells you what things are at the most basic level," he says. "What does it do? Who made it?"

So instead of bemoaning asphalt and other elements of the urban landscape, embrace them. "A lot of water towers are painted sky blue, to try to make them disappear," Hayes says. "I think that's a terrible choice. Why not celebrate them?"